


Harry Potter and the Fifth House

by HonkingHonkFriend



Series: Wyvernscale Fucks Up The Very Concept Of Hogwarts Authority [1]
Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Gen, Original Character(s), Self Insert
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-06-18
Updated: 2020-11-24
Packaged: 2021-03-04 05:20:26
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 3
Words: 7,163
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24788377
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/HonkingHonkFriend/pseuds/HonkingHonkFriend
Summary: It’s the Year 2010, and once again many new students have come to Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. It starts off as many years have started after the Battle of Hogwarts, full of chaos and students getting to know the building, their new classmates, and of course, teachers. But on the morning of September 1st, Harry woke up covered in sweat at four am, a harrowing feeling in his gut for the year ahead.
Series: Wyvernscale Fucks Up The Very Concept Of Hogwarts Authority [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2048922
Kudos: 3





	1. School Abounds Baby

**Author's Note:**

> JK Rowling has no correlation to this. This is in a universe where shit's not fuckin Racist and Queerphobic. Harry is a DADA Teacher. This is my (and my brother's) Literary Treatise in place of Directly pissing on JK's Not Yet Existent Racist and Queerphobic Grave. Legit just a self insert started between me and my brother but now my friends and OC's are in it too. I finished writing this at 1.13am and also it's the most I've ever written in one session and I've also never seen or read Harry Potter.

To most students who have been preparing hastily to go to school, shivering in the cold up in England, there are plenty of students who are also preparing for school, only nowhere near as hastily, and far, far less cold. In fact, some would call it quite warm. Others still would call it "Hell Country" and those people would be the most correct of them all, though to our protagonist of this story, there was one good part of this Hell Country, and it was the fact that it was home to many wild dragons, both dangerous and benign. 

It was a warm night in August, unusual as it was the end of winter, but it wasn’t unbearable. It was approximately three in the morning when one Emyl Grayson had snuck out of their bedroom. You’d expect someone at eleven years of age to be able to sleep easily at night, especially when they were going to be leaving their home as soon as the sun rose to make it to London to take the train to school, but one simply cannot ignore their dragons, especially when some should be hatching soon! Emyl had taken down their duna with them as they headed downstairs as quietly as a heavyset person walking on old wood, and outside of the house. The house that they lived in wasn’t too small, but it wasn’t that big either, but the land it was on was huge for one specific reason; it housed many dragons, purely due to Emyl’s unwavering love for the beasts. Because of this, the family had to have land for both the dragons and food for each dietary requirement. 

The stalls that kept the dragons housed and away from muggle eyes were larger than most would expect, but to a dragon lover and aficionado like Emyl, it was still too small, they aimed to move into the wizarding world one day so they could allow their dragons to be free range and safe from being captured and tested on by muggles. The metal doors squeaked open, causing a few of the dragons to look over to Emyl, their eyes shining in the moonlight as Emyl moved to the nearest dragoness, a large Antipodean Opaleye that they had helped come to full health after finding her half starved on one of their adventures. The dragon’s eyes were always one that mystified Emyl, one a deep indigo blue and the other a vibrant emerald green. “Hey Illiol, hey girl.” Emyl hissed softly in parseltongue, moving towards her, reaching a hand out as a greeting and an offering to pat Illiol’s snout, who moved towards the hand, then pushed forwards to press her snout against the entirety of Emyl’s body, who laughed happily and hugged her. “I’m happy to see you too, can I sit with you and your eggs?” They asked, waiting for Illiol to move and allow them to sit against her stomach next to her three eggs before she curled around them again. Emyl shifted, covering themselves and the eggs while being careful to not crush or bump the eggs before comfortably leaning into Illiol’s plump belly. 

It was a calming few minutes of rest before Illiol whined, waking Emyl back up who turned to her, only to see her head turned towards them and eyes open. “Illi’, what’s wrong sweetheart? Why so sad?” They asked, carefully getting out from under the blanket and shuffled towards Illiol’s head and gently pat her. The dragon whined and hissed, Emyl nodding before sighing and hugging her gently. “Oh, I’m going to miss you too, Illi’. But I won’t be gone for long, I’ll be back in around three months, it’ll be okay. Besides, if I’m ever gonna get us all somewhere safe for you, and everyone else here, I need to learn more magic than being able to do transfiguration and be an animagus.” They explained to her, pushing their long hair out of the way, bitterly thinking that they should have brought a hair tyer with them down to the dragon stables. Illiol whined and moved her head towards her eggs and Emyl blinked, looking over at the eggs, though with how dark it was under Illiol’s wings and body it wasn’t too easy to see them. “What about your eggs, sweetheart? You’ll be a great mother, and I’ll be back after they hatch and you can introduce me then.” They said, only to be greeted with a slight push from the dragon. “Now, Illiol, no need to be rude, and you have to be careful, you know I’m heavy, I don’t want to hurt your babies.” Emyl chided, moving carefully towards the eggs but making sure not to lean on any of them, only stopping as they heard Illiol’s voice asking them something. “Illiol, I- I can’t take an egg to school, what if something happens? What if the little sweetheart gets taken away from me, or if it doesn’t like me when it hatches, or what if you-” the child’s rising fears were shushed as Illiol spoke, promising Emyl that everything would be okay. It was like a fantasy, it being late at night and being requested by a dragon that you had saved to take one of the only eggs it has, of three, to bring with you to school, to help it grow. Before long Emyl had sighed. “Alright Illiol, if you’re sure. I promise, I’ll make sure nothing happens to the little guy. But, if it hatches I’m gonna have to give them a nickname so they’re not nameless for however long we’re in school for!” They said, a laughter coming from the dragoness as Emyl returned to rest against her for the remainder of the night.

The morning was always wonderful when one was awoken by the sound of hungry dragons moving around in their cages. Emyl was young so they still got help from their parents, but at eleven it was pretty easy to do most of the dragon feeding on their own at this point. They yawned, stretching as Illiol did the same, moving her head and body to stretch before resting again, her head uncurled so that Emyl could get up. Emyl rubbed their face, picking some loose scales of Illiol’s out of their hair, placing it in their duna before wrapping it up like a rucksack, standing up and walking past Illiol’s head, giving her a pat. “Alright everyone, after I get changed I’ll get everyone’s breakfast together!” They said, leaving the door open this time as they went back into the house, spotting their dad standing in the kitchen making a coffee.  
“So you spent the night again with the dragons?” He asked as Emyl began climbing the stairs.  
“Yeah.” They asked, stopping about halfway on the stairs and looked into the kitchen, only seeing their dad’s feet.  
“Are you ready for school?” Emyl rolled their eyes at the question.  
“Yeah, Dad. I packed everything last night. I’m good. I’ll head off at midday, I’ll make it to the station fine.” They said, quickly scampering up the stairs before their dad could continue asking any questions.

Once in their room Emyl dropped their duna on the bed, grabbing the pale dragon scales and took them to their desk in the corner of the room, opening the drawer, then took out a bag filled with more of the same scales, then pushed them into the bag as well. Emyl’s room was one that perfectly fit them. A large queen sized bed (which they had a feeling wasn’t going to fit them for long), the walls were painted deep purple with golden fleur de lys and small dragons painted along the walls at seemingly random intervals. A large window was beside their bed, though, the blinds almost always remained closed unless their mother had gotten in the room. Their bed was covered in many dragon toys along with one stuffed rabbit, lovingly named Gaius, all carefully laid on the bed from the previous night when Emyl had gone down to their dragons. Emyl picked Gaius up from their pillow and put him in their bag, cracking their knuckles as they looked at their large suitcase and carry on backpack, sighing as they emptied out their backpack besides a few snacks, Gaius, and a jacket so they could be extra careful with the transport of the dragon egg that Illiol was planning on making them take to Hogwarts. They went to get out of their pyjamas, deciding on a pair of trackie dacks and a black t-shirt with a blue flannel over it. After making sure they had everything they absolutely needed they put their backpack on and grabbed their suitcase, taking it downstairs and put it at the door. “I’m gonna go feed the dragons.” They said as they went out the door, not waiting for a response from their dad. 

Emyl, despite having never been a morning person, had always loved the way the skies looked as the sun rose over the plains. The colours in the sky were always absolutely fascinating, but today was no day to get distracted with the beauty of the red and pink in the sky. They went to the sheep and opened the gates, waiting for the right amount of sheep wander into the pathway to the dragons while the others were let out into the paddock for the day. Emyl hopped into the fenced in area and lead the sheep towards the dragon stalls, only hopping out to open and close the gates as the sheep walked in. Emyl then returned into the dragon pens, greeting each dragon before getting to the sheep, taking two sheep out at a time until each dragon had eaten enough. The last dragon was Illiol, which Emyl had brought four sheep, the dragons would be fed again after Emyl left so they didn’t need too much food just yet. As Illiol finished her meal she gently picked up one of the eggs in her claws, bringing the egg towards Emyl who was taking their backpack off their back and opening it, gently taking the egg from Illiol’s claws. It was warm, and it seemed to glow as the sun hit it like a true opal. Emyl looked back up to Illiol as they held the egg so carefully. “Illi, are you sure about this?” They asked, only for Illiol to lower her beautiful head and gently use her nose to push the egg towards the backpack, letting Emyl do what they needed to ensure the egg was secure before licking their face. “I’m gonna miss you too Illiol, you be careful, okay? Mum and dad’ll take care of all of you and send me howlers, so if you need anything just yell and I’ll hear you.” They said laughing, hugging Illiol’s snout and kissing her between her eyes. “I love you, you beautiful girl.” They said, hearing the dragon next to them growl. “I love you too, I love all of you.” Emyl let go of Illiol and went around, giving each dragon hugs, kisses, and saying their goodbyes before finally getting back to the door. “I’ll be back in about three months, you all better behave!” They said waving before going to the house again.

They quickly pulled the suitcase outside before walking into the kitchen-dining room, smiling at the smell of bacon and eggs, carefully putting the backpack down as they grabbed a plate. “Morning mum, thanks for breakfast.” They said, grabbing a knife and fork and eating the food next to the sink rather than sitting down.  
“Of course, you need to eat. Are you taking floo powder or are you going to take the plane to London?” Emyl’s mum asked, causing them to stop midway through a bite of bacon before groaning to themselves, putting their utensils down and quickly eating the bacon as they went towards the door and pulled their suitcase back inside.  
“I thought we ran out of floo so I was thinking I had to go to the station or something.” They said.  
“No, I went and got some the other day.” Their mum said as Emyl went back to finish the remaining eggs and put the dishes in the dishwasher.  
“Well I’ll go by floo, then I’ll already be where I need to be. I already have enough money so don’t worry. It’s okay. No, I don’t need you to come with me.” Emyl said, thinking of anything else their mum could ask before immediately answering. “I’ll send you a letter when I get to school. Mum, I’ll be fine. We’re purebloods, I’ll be able to figure everything out, and if I can’t I’ll ask around.” They said, sighing in relief as their mum let off.

Emyl went to put their backpack back and grabbed their suitcase, moving towards the fireplace, leaving it there as their parents came over and hugged them, along with getting several unwanted kisses from their mum. “Alright, alright, I’m going, can you stop kissing me I need to get my wand and stuff.” They said, finally freeing themselves from their mother’s grasp. They grabbed a handful of floo powder and went into the fireplace, pulling their suitcase inside before throwing the floo powder. “Diagon Alley!” And suddenly they weren’t at home.

‘Finally’, they thought, ‘Finally I can actually get to do something for myself!’ They took out the notes that they’d written for themselves, humming as they read it before heading towards Ollivanders. They blinked at just how empty it was. “Jeez, for a place that sells wands, you’d reckon on the first day of school it’d be full.” They said to themselves, wandering inside and looking around. The amount of wands was ridiculous. Though before long their utterance had been answered by an unseen voice.  
“It’s not full because it’s still five in the morning and most other wizards won’t arrive for another hour or so!” Emyl jumped, looking around and scowled.  
“Where are you and also who are you?”  
“Well no need to be rude, you’re in my store!” And a blonde man had suddenly stood up from behind the counter. “I’m Ollivander- Mr Ollivander to you, Miss…?” Ollivander asked, waving his hand in a circle motion for ‘your name is?’, though Emyl frowned.  
“I’m not a miss, I’m just Emyl. Don’t call me a girl.” They stated, causing Ollivander to hold his hands in the hair.  
“Ah, my apologies Emyl, I do hope you’ll forgive me. How can I help you this fine morning?”  
“I need a wand so I can study magic, I’m starting my first year at Hogwarts and we don’t have like, magic shops in Australia, none that are that good at least.” They explained, Ollivander nodding.  
“Well of course, every wizard and witch needs a wand! Now, let’s see if we can find the wand that’s calling out for you.” He said, turning around and pulled out a box from one of the possibly hundreds of stacks, placing the box on the desk before taking a wand out. “This, my dear, is an ebony phoenix feather, try it, see how it feels.” He said.

Emyl just looked at the wand for a few moments before reaching out and carefully picked it up, looking it over before looking at Ollivander, who gave them another hand wave, which they copied. It seemed the wand was wrong as it knocked the ladder near Ollivander over, nearly hitting a candle nearby. Emyl quickly put the wand down with a sheepish laugh. “No problem,” Ollivander reassured them, returning the wand to it’s box. “Everyone finds their wand, the chances of your want being the first one you hold is one in a million!”

Several wands were tried out, it was almost a dozen before the final wand was received and a heat had come from the wand momentarily. Not hot, warm, comforting, like the warmth of the dragon egg in Emyl’s backpack, or like Illiol’s warmth last night as they’d slept together for one last night before Emyl got sent off to Hogwarts. Emyl looked to Ollivander who seemed pleased. “Well, it may have taken us a little while, but we’ve finally found you wand it seems!” He said, walking back to the desk as Emyl followed him.  
“What kind of wand is it?” They asked, looking at it over, it was beautiful. There was a pattern underneath the handle that had diamond patters over it, the part where Emyl’s hands fit but were still too small to cover fully was smoothed out nicely for a hand of any size to hold, and slightly above it was where Emyl’s thumb was already constantly rubbing. It was carved so that it looked like a braid was crawling up to the tip of the wand.  
“This, Emyl, is a Sycamore wand with dragonheart string, 12 and ¾ inches too. You’ve got quite the personality on you, don’t you?” He asked.  
“Well, I’ve been with dragons nearly all my life, I think it makes sense! Thanks Mr Ollivander, I need to get the rest of my stuff together. Good luck with the rest of today.”


	2. Learning Family Secrets Is A Fun And Cool Activity

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In this chapter we meet another protagonist of the story from his point of view and we watch him as he finds out that maybe, just maybe, he's not such a "regular" weirdo human.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Written by Bro.

In the same Hell Country, although slightly further north this time, another child, this one a twelve year old, woke up from his bed. Unlike Emyl, however, this one knew significantly less about his future. Or his present.

Or his gender. So, for now, he's using the wrong pronouns.

(He'll clue on eventually, stick with him.)

So, she kicked off the blankets from where they were tangled around her legs, and stared at the ceiling.

"Get up," she mumbled to herself, "Come on, you've gotta do it eventually, get up."

She didn't move. 

Footsteps approached her room. Her eyes widened and she shot up, crossing the room and opening a random dresser drawer.

"You better not still be asleep," her mother said, opening the door.

"Hm? No, I'm deciding what to wear," she said, blinking innocently as she held up a piece of clothing pulled at random from the drawer, "Do you think this still fits or is it pushing it?"

"Everything's pushing it with you," her mother rolled her eyes and left the room.

Hm. Ouch, actually, that one stung a little. It's not like she was planning on wearing it but, still.

Not really in the mood for dressing, she put down the… denim shorts, apparently, that she had retrieved from the drawer, and instead just threw on what she'd been wearing the day before. It passed the sniff test, it was fine.

She headed into the backyard. It was pretty big, and very heavy on greenery. Her dad's dad had been very big on exotic plants, and had filled the property with cuttings and saplings bought from… somewhere. 

Honestly, she had no idea where they were from. The only books she'd ever found them in were weird, old, handwritten tomes her grandfather had owned. It didn't really matter where they were from, though. They were big, and cool, and they didn't seem to like her mother at all, which worked out very well when one was trying to spend as little time with said mother as possible.

And sometimes they'd listen to her, if she asked nicely.

Not really, obviously, that's kind of insane to think. But if she asked nicely, they would bend down and let her grab onto the branches that had previously been just out of reach.

By coincidence.

Obviously.

But it was nice to pretend they cared.

"Up, please," she stretched her arms out to the largest tree, and in response it swayed in a sudden breeze. She caught the lowered branch and was pulled upwards into the canopy. With a few more branches moving into position, she quickly ascended to the one spot near the top that had her Viewing Hole in it.

The Viewing Hole was a patch of the canopy that, for whatever reason, never grew in correctly, but gave her the perfect view over her neighbourhood. Eight or ten blocks, by her count.

How the fuck the tree had not been busted by the council, she had no idea.

It was an outlaw tree, she supposed. It did its own thing, and obeyed no law of man nor beast. She could respect that. Hell, she wanted to  _ be _ that. Fuck the law. This tree was a  _ punk. _

"Punk tree," she patted its bark and grinned at it.

...Fuck, maybe that school councillor was right. Maybe she  _ did _ need better socialization. Whatever, it's not like she was going to get it anyway. Who gives a shit. 

Oh hey, a bird. A big one, too, it kinda looked like--

"Is that a fucking owl?" She squinted at the incoming bird, and yes. Yes, it apparently was. Carrying a letter of all things.

Cool.

The bird landed on the branch next to her, flapping its wings to steady itself, and then sidled closer, poking her with the letter.

"Oh, thanks. For me?" She said, to the fucking owl that had just brought a letter  _ what the shit was happening _ and handed it to her like this was a normal event. 

The owl, who was neither aware nor concerned about the perceived oddity of its appearance, and very satisfied with its accomplished mission, snapped its beak twice, and took off into the sky.

She stared after the owl, and then down at the letter. 

It had her name on it.

It was for her.

The owl had brought her a letter… for her mother.

She should open it. People opened letters addressed to them. This was basically addressed to her, and was thus her letter, and so she should open it.

She continued to stare at the letter.

The tree swayed slightly in a breeze too soft for her to feel, and she grabbed the branch she was sitting on instinctively, snapping out of her owl-induced trance.

"Shit," she stabilised herself as the tree moved back to where it had been, "Right, letter."

She opened the letter. She read it.

.

.

.

What… the fuck.

Okay. This cannot have been a joke. It was too specific, too weird. And the owl. The  _ owl. _

That's not a joke thing. That's a… magic thing.

Magic. A magic school. That she was meant to go to… last year? And hadn't? Because her mother said she was already involved with a private magic tutor? Which, to clarify, she was not?

To put it lightly, she had some questions. But, the owl was gone, and evidently her mother could not be trusted to be honest about this, if she was already lying to school administration.

She reread the letter, looking for ideas on what to do.

To the esteemed Lady Chevallier,

(Uh, Lady?)

We are contacting you about the education of your child--

(Yeah, yeah, names, meant to go to magic school, what else though?)

\--would be honoured to still accept your child for her second year, providing you supply the documentation of her passing standard first year exams, or their internationally recognised equivalent--

(Okay, still able to go, maybe not for second year, but still.)

\--may contact the school via owl, or by Floo message. Our doors are always open to wizarding children.

Floo. She knew that word. And, if the letter was anything to go by, it was something to do with her father's family.

Also, as the narrator, I didn't know how to bring it up earlier but you should probably know now, her father is long dead. So he wasn't about to go explaining anything any time soon.

So, there's that.

Alrighty, time to go digging through the possessions of her dead father. Good times!

She carefully slid down the tree, dropping from one branch to another until she was back on the ground, and headed inside.

Her dad's old junk was in the hut outside, but the hut was always locked, and the keys were in the office, which meant she would get busted immediately if her mother wasn't distracted. Time to plan a heist.

Obviously, her best shot was to wait until evening, and grab the keys while the news was on, and use them when her mother was asleep. But that would take forever, and she wanted answers  _ now. _ Maybe she could just grab the keys very quietly and quickly? That could work. That  _ could work. _

Feeling confident in her plan of just fucking going for it, she walked in through the back door. Being very quiet, she could hear her mother in the front of the house. Good.  _ Good. _ The plan was going well. Through the kitchen, through the hallway, into the office, check behind the door. 

_ Keys acquired. _ Smooth as silk.

Closing her fist around the keys delicately as to make no sound, she lifted the lanyard off its hook and scarpered outside before her mother could realize they were gone.

Success!

The door to the hut had no proper handle, just a flat-faced lock with nothing more than a small keyhole, set into plain, white, painted wood. She unlocked the door, pushing it open to reveal the hidden secrets.

A lot of old computer parts strewn across several benches, some old furniture, and dust. And spiderwebs.

These secrets kind of sucked.

There had to be more to it then junk, so, closing the door behind her, she moved a very old office chair out of the way and looked under the bench. Nothing. Alright, well, it's never in the first place you look. Moving on. How about drawers, she thought, opening a few. 

Oh, jackpot, some notebooks!

She flipped through one. No mention of floo that she could see. It was mostly computer schematics and… runes. And diagrams of runes in circles with lines drawn through them. 

So there was magic here, but not the kind she was looking for.

Alright, furniture maybe. An old wardrobe held a cardboard box that looked sort of promising. She tore the tape off it, and opened it to find a bunch of capes, some leather bound books, and a small wooden chest. The chest opened in the middle, and was full of glass vials filled with dried plants and what had once been animal parts, she guessed, from the look of the tiny bones at the bottom of several of them.

Kinda cool, kinda gross. Definitely not what she was looking for. The books were slightly more interesting, one of them was about something called wand lore, two of them were a set about ancient runes, and another was a potions manual. She was absolutely going to read those later. 

Floo. She needed floo. Where the fuck could it be? This wasn't a big room.

"Floo, floo, floo," she muttered, trying not to be distracted by the various cool magic things she unearthed. 

Something behind her tipped over and she jumped, terrified that she'd been busted. She turned around to see absolutely no one there, but a small jar of grey powder had tipped over and spilled over the bench top. She exhaled in relief, and walked over to the jar, standing it back up and trying to sweep the powder back into it with her hands. It had a small label on its side, which read… Floo Powder.

She froze. That was… convenient. Was that magic? Did she just  _ do magic? _

Fuck yeah. Fuck. Yeah! Holy shit. This was the best fucking day ever. Magic was real, and she could do it, and she had  _ just done it. _ Fuck yeah didn't really cover how she felt, but it was a start.

Reading closer, it had a set of instructions under the Floo Powder part. Just throw it into the fire, step in, say your destination clearly, and drop in more powder. Easy enough.

Thank fuck it was winter. 

Pocketing the floo powder, she walked back to the scattered books from the wardrobe. She was not leaving them behind. Laying a cape on the ground, she stacked the books on top, and then wrapped them up in the fabric, hiding them from sight. She then picked up the surprisingly heavy bundle and made her way across the yard, depositing them beneath her bedroom window. She went back to the hut, shut the door, retrieved the keys, and then walked inside. A quick trip to the office had the keys returned, and the heist was complete, with her mother none the wiser. 

In her room, she pulled the fly screen off the window, hauled in the cape full of books like a fishing net, stashed them beneath her bed, and replaced the screen. 

It was still mid-afternoon by this point, even with how late she had woken up, so she decided to kill time reading one of the books. Her mother lit the fireplace every night in winter as the sun went down, so it was just a matter of waiting until it was burning and then zipping in before her mother could stop her.

She pulled out one of the books,  _ The Complete Potioneer's Almanac, _ and flipped it open.

Oh. Wow. This was… unreadable.

Dense paragraphs, conversion tables for different measurements, half of which she had never heard of before, and extremely academic terminology littered the pages. Maybe starting with this one was a bad move. She reached under the bed and grabbed a different book.

_ What Your Wand Says About You! A Guide To Basic Wandlore. _

Basic. Yeah, she liked the sound of that. She opened the book and started reading.


	3. How to Care For (and Hide) Your Dragon Egg Using Various School Supplies

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Emyl gets a room at the Mahogany Hotel, then gets their cauldron.

One would think that the common next step after getting your wand a student would next go to buy school supplies, but no. Emyl is one child who has grown up both in the muggle and wizarding world, so instead they decide to get themselves a room at the Mahogany Hotel, despite the name and the looks of the hotel, it was a rather seedy place, not exactly someplace one would expect an eleven year old to go to on their own and rent a place for a few nights until school began, but again, Emyl is not a normal child. Emyl has a fucking dragon egg in their backpack, may I remind you? 

The Mahogany Hotel is a large hotel made out of, you guessed it, dark oak wood! No, I’m shitting you, it’s made out of mostly mahogany wood with copper to stabilize the mahogany and accented with ebony wood, the place was lit up with floating candles which avoided the walls with grace and ease. The Mahogany looked like it could have belonged to a castle of some villain in a book, especially with the types of patrons there. Most of them were sitting with either varying creatures in cages, some potions and books Emyl had never even dreamt of seeing before and- was that a flying carpet? Wasn’t it illegal to own those? Yes. 100% Yes. The Mahogany Hotel is one where unless you were a part of the Ministry of Magic or someone who worked there, no one would actively bother you. 

Emyl carefully walked around the other patrons doing their best to not run into anyone and upset the much stronger adults. They soon got to the bar and waited to notice someone behind the bar. “Excuse me. I’d like to book a room for one until the first of September.” They said, looking up at the woman who looked down at them. Both because she was taller than Emyl, but also because they’re a child in a super shady place. After a bit of mental debate with herself the woman nodded.  
“Alright kid, that’s fifteen sickles a night, can you afford it?” Emyl carefully put their backpack down and squatted, taking their wallet out of the front pocket and gave her six gold galleons and two silver sickles with a grin, showing off their odd teeth to the lady who took the money and crouched under the bar, shifting around before grabbing a set of keys with a block of mahogany on it with the number six engraved with copper colouring.  
“If you go to the left there’s a stairwell, you just need to go up two flights and your room is number six, obviously.” She said, waving her free hand as she put the money into the till. “Lunch is at one to three and dinner’s at six, to ten, you’ll need to pay for that too if you decide to eat here.” And Emyl, ever the charmer, wasn’t listening to a word she said. Instead, they were too busy being enamoured by the details in the number six. The bartender clearly got annoyed before long and pushed Emyl along. They grabbed their backpack carefully before heading up the stairs, exhausted by the time they got there. Why couldn’t wizards take SOME muggle things and use them, like elevators. We don’t need flying cars. We need fast elevators.

The hallway was just as nice looking as the opening room to Emyl. The stone floor had a long black rug which was embroidered with golden accents of fluer de lys along the edges, which Emyl was delighted by. The wood remained the same as downstairs, and lanterns were safely floating in the hallway, though none were on as the light was beginning to pour in through the windows.   
‘Huh.’ Emyl thought. ‘I need to ask what spell they use to make the lanterns turn on and off.’ As they walked through the hallway, gently running their hand along the wood on the side, only lifting their hand as they passed a door, reading the numbers quietly until they got to their room, number six, and quickly unlocked the door and got in. Their room wasn’t anything special, but for a kid who’s looking after themselves in a wizarding world, it’s quite fantastical. The mahogany wood continued into the room, which was fairly small, a twin sized bed with two thick maroon blankets and an additional white covering with two white pillows on top. There was a large window with heavy maroon blinds that would throw the room into complete darkness if closed. There was a small bathroom immediately to the left upon entering the room, which was tiny, with only one step between the toilet, shower, and sink. The floor was smooth black basalt throughout the room.

Emyl sighed loudly as they went over to the bed and landed face first onto it. For The Mahogany Hotel being a relatively cheap and shady place, the bed was ridiculously soft and invited Emyl to go to sleep, who easily declined. Instead they crawled up the bed, shrugging off their backpack as they leaned against the bedhead and took the dragon egg out, then took out the jacket that they had placed in the bag, then kicked the bag off the side of the bed, carefully putting the jacket between their crossed legs and placed the egg on top. They looked over the pale egg, watching with awe as the light that hit it made the pale white change into varying greens, pinks, and blues.   
“You’re going to be such a beautiful hatchling. Illiol’ll be so happy to meet you when you finally hatch! I promise I’m going to take great care of you while we’re here.” They said, gently running their chubby fingers over the egg, feeling each bump over the egg. “I wonder what you’re going to be like, you’re probably going to be really curious like Illiol is, huh? I could probably take you to school for a year or something before you get too big to sneak around, huh, baby? I think I might just call you Baby until you hatch, then we can talk, or maybe I’ll just call you Baby until we get home in three months, then Illiol- I forgot to tell you, Illiol’s your mum, she’s big, and beautiful! Then Illi’ can name you, and if you’re hatched by then, we can also introduce you to your siblings. It’s going to be so fun! I can’t wait to meet you and your siblings.” 

It was a good few hours of Emyl relaxing from walking around and cooing over the egg before they figured it’d be time to go around and gather their remaining school supplies. They carefully lifted the dragon egg and jacket, emptying out their backpack on the bed aside from their wallet, carefully picking up the jacket and put it back in the backpack, followed by the egg which was carefully wrapped and finished with a kiss on top before Emyl closed the main pocket. In the front pocket Emyl put their wallet and hotel room key, being careful that they were against the jacket so they couldn’t bump the egg or somehow scratch it. Their wand, on the other hand, was in Emyl’s hand, and wasn’t going to be let go of until they got the perfect bag for their wand.   
“Hooo-kay! So, wand!” They lifted their wand up in front of them, accidentally starting a small fire on the wand. “A-ah!! No- Stop!” They waved the wand up and down and in circles, trying to get the wand to stop the flame, which it did forgivingly to the new wizard. “Thank you. So, wand! Dragon egg safely secured! Bags and stuff on the floor and outta the way! Time to go get my books and cauldron and stuff!” They said, holding onto their wand with pride as they went out of their room, closing the door behind them and then headed on downstairs with much more ease than going upstairs, not yet realising how much of a pain going upstairs would be when they had their cauldron and books.

The Mahogany Hotel’s bar was just as full as before, maybe slightly less so, but honestly, it’s not like Emyl kept an eye on the amount of adults there were in the bar. They dodged past the adults who were sitting and walking around without getting their backpack bumped by a wall or another person. The outside was almost impossibly bright due to the dark and dingy feel in the Mahogany Hotel, but the seedy place had the perfect charm for an eleven year old who had an Antipodean Opaleye egg in their backpack and was going to smuggle it into school and raise it, it seemed like the perfect place for a child like that. The outside was nice, it was nice and cold but with only the slightest breeze to let the cold air circulate, though the cool there was a slight worry that the egg might possibly get too cold. They would just have to be quick to gather their things for work. First things first, to Potage’s Cauldron Shop, if they could get a cauldron they could carry more of their belongings without having to stuff their backpack too much, they didn’t want to put too much pressure on the little Baby. 

There were more people out now, it was probably around eight in the morning now. Emyl began walking towards the shop, looking around to see if they could spot any of the other shops that they would need to go to, they did spot Madam Malkins further down the street. Keeping that in mind, Emyl turned and hurried to Potage’s, the sooner they got their cauldron, the sooner they could order their robe and ensure their Baby would be kept nice and warm throughout the rest of the day, since it looked like today was going to be a particularly cold day, they didn’t want their poor Baby to get sick while still in its egg.

Potage’s Cauldron Shop was a pretty humble, but messy place, in Emyl’s not so expert opinion. The shop had various stacks of cauldrons along the shop’s walls and on little tables throughout the room, boxes of potion ingredients around the cauldrons and on their own separate shelves around the room, all aligned nicely to fit into a lovely gradient of pinks and reds on one side, to deep purples on the other side of the shop, and come in time, Emyl would come to love Potage’s Cauldron Shop, purely for the aesthetic, but for now, they are a child who just wants to get their cauldron and get everything ready for school, have you ever seen such a determined child?  
… Honestly, probably yes.   
Alas, we move on! 

As they looked around they eventually spotted a woman who was moving cauldrons onto the shelves. “Excuse me, are you Potage?” Emyl asked the woman who looked down at Emyl, moving her blonde hair out of her eyes as she put the cauldron down.  
“Indeed I am, Madam Potage. What’s your name dear?”  
“I’m Emyl, I’m starting my first year at Hogwarts this year and I came here to get my first cauldron.” They explained to her.   
“Ah yes. The best for a beginner in that case would be a pewter cauldron- come with me, dear.” She said, waving Emyl to follow her as she walked to another aisle, then looked over the cauldrons, before picking one up. “Try holding this for me, Emyl.” Madam Potage instructed as she handed the cauldron to Emyl, who held their hands out and grabbed the handle, not expecting it to be heavy and almost dropping it, though they managed to keep it in their hand, and after a few moments they lifted it a bit. “So, how is it? Is it too heavy, too big?” Madam Potage asked, and Emyl hummed.  
“Can I try putting my backpack inside?” Madam Potage blinked at the question, it wasn’t exactly something one would hear very often.  
“Well, I don’t see why not.” She answered, watching with mild confusion as Emyl put the cauldron down, then carefully took their backpack off, only to place it into the cauldron with exceeding care, then picked the cauldron up from the bottom, rather than the handle, and walked up and down the aisle a few times, inspecting their bag, which fit nicely, not too much space, but it wasn’t squishing the bag, it’d be a perfect and safe way to carry their little dragon egg. They finally walked over to Madam Potage with a smile.  
“I’d like this one please!” Emyl’s voice had more serotonin than Emyl would have in the coming years of their life outside of school. Madam Potage took Emyl to the front desk, ringing the price up and Emyl paid for it. “Thank you Madam Potage, you’re a very nice lady.” They said, taking the cauldron in their arms.  
“Thank you Emyl, I’m glad you think so. I hope you have a great year at Hogwarts.”  
“Thank you, Madam Potage!” And with that, Emyl made their way out of Potage’s Cauldron shop. “And now, for my uniform. I think that’ll be right, I have books and stuff from home.” They muttered to themselves, heading towards the tailors.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks to the guest who gave the fic a kudos and thanks to Hermionefan for the bookmark!!


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